The present invention relates to an information processing system including input/output (I/O) devices such as a touch panel, a mouse, etc. capable of inputting information with an operation against a display on a screen.
In the information processing system including the above-described I/O devices like, e.g., the touch panel, a sensor for detecting a touch (or press-down) on a screen from outside is provided in overlap with a touch panel display screen for displaying the information. When an operator of the information processing system presses down a position of a button, etc. displayed on the screen, the sensor detects coordinates of that touch position, and an operation instruction is given to the information processing system.
This type of invention known as the information processing system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Application No.9-26832. This type of information processing system includes a large-sized main LCD having high resolution, a main CPU for controlling the main LCD, a small-sized sub LCD having low resolution, a touch panel on the sub LCD, and a sub CPU for controlling the sub LCD. According to this invention, a necessity for providing the touch panel on the main LCD is eliminated by combining the small-sized low resolution sub LCD with the touch panel provided on the sub LCD, and declines both in contrast of the main LCD and in display function are thereby prevented. Further, this invention has a scheme for reducing a consumption of electric power by operating only the sub LCD and a sub processor in operations not requiring the high resolution.
Further, in some other conventional information processing systems, both of the touch panel and another pointing device, e.g., the mouse can be used as the pointing devices. In this type of information processing system, when detecting that the operator manipulates the mouse, a mouse cursor is displayed on the screen, and, when detecting that the operator operates the touch panel, the mouse cursor is not displayed.
The reason for taking a mode in which the mouse cursor is not displayed when operating the touch panel, is that the operator is able to directly specify desired coordinates on the screen by use of a finger or a pen.
In the case of performing the demonstration and the presentation by operating the touch panel in this information processing system, however, the audience is unable to follow up with the operation of the operator and hard to understand how the operator operates it.
Further, this type of information processing system may generally be a small-sized information terminal such as a notebook type personal computer, a pen-inputting type personal computer, a PDA, etc., and an area of a display screen thereof is small in general. Therefore, other external display device such as a liquid crystal projector or a large-screen CRT is connected via a cable, and the demonstration or the presentation is conducted for the audiences by use of this external display device in many cases. In this case, if a video controller incorporated into the information processing system is used for controlling display on the external display device, the same content as that displayed on the external display device can not be displayed on the screen of the self-device in some cases in terms of a limit of performance of the video controller. Hence, the operator must operate the touch panel in a state of displaying nothing on the screen of the information processing system, and it is difficult to pinpoint the exact coordinates on the screen by operating the touch panel.
Further, other type of information processing system incorporates two pieces of video controllers. One of the two video controllers controls the display on the touch panel screen, while the other controller controls the display on the external display device. Therefore, this information processing system displays different contents on the two screens. In this type of information processing system, it is difficult to specify a menu, a button or an icon by use of the touch panel because they are displayed on the external display device but are not displayed on the touch panel.
In any case, the audiences have been demanding for a contrivance for pinpointing the touched coordinates to make the operation clearly understandable irrespective of whether the information is displayed on the touch panel or not.
On the other hand, the operators have been demanding for a method of controlling the information processing system by use of a touch panel capable of easily operating the menu, the button or the icon displayed on only the external display device.
Moreover, in an information processing system having no such touch panel described above and using only, e.g., a mouse as a pointing device, a mouse cursor is always displayed on the screen.
In the demonstration and the presentation for the audience, however, the operator frequently moves the mouse cursor to the desired menu, button or icon, and hence it is difficult for the audience to grasp the operation by the operator as in the case of the information processing system including the touch panel described above.
Accordingly, the contrivance for making the content of operation by the operator easily understandable to the audience, is also required of the information processing system using a pointing device other than the touch panel.